Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is said to have come up with a plan to offer a ministerial portfolio to a former cabinet member from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D).

Artsvik Minasyan, who headed the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments after the “Velvet Revolution”, is thought to have the necessary expertise to meet the new government’s expectations. The plan also falls into the logic of Pashinyan’s earlier promise to partner with the Republican Party’s former coalition ally, says the paper.

But Minasyan personally denied the report when contacted for further comments. “I will not accept such a proposal even if it is really made. I will not agree to hold a political office in a government where my work will be limited to executive functions,” the paper quotes him as saying.